Secondly, subby needs to check out Jelly Bean...lag no more on the "reference" model

Even 4.0 is pretty smooth on my Galaxy Nexus. Android has always been pretty responsive so long as it was without HTC or Samsung skins screwing up the UI. I haven't played around with the GSIII yet, but on the One X I looked at in the store, the clean ICS interface I like has been replaced with a lot of crap. Even the multitasking UI looks like crap now.

FTFA: Amazon also currently runs its own Appstore for Android, which offers both apps for the Kindle Fire and a curated selection for devices from other manufacturers. With this and Amazon's robust content selection across music, movies, and books, a hypothetical smartphone would have a ready-made ecosystem to slot right into.

Reading this makes me further believe that if Facebook tries to enter the market with its own smartphone it will more than likely fail. What would they have which could compete with a rumored Amazon smartphone, much less the existing Android, Windows phone, and iPhones on the market?

heavymetal:FTFA: Amazon also currently runs its own Appstore for Android, which offers both apps for the Kindle Fire and a curated selection for devices from other manufacturers. With this and Amazon's robust content selection across music, movies, and books, a hypothetical smartphone would have a ready-made ecosystem to slot right into.

Reading this makes me further believe that if Facebook tries to enter the market with its own smartphone it will more than likely fail. What would they have which could compete with a rumored Amazon smartphone, much less the existing Android, Windows phone, and iPhones on the market?

I can only see their phone doing well if it is cheap prepaid or free postpaid phone that doesn't require as costly a data plan as a smartphone, targeted at teens and older customers like my parents. Basically what the Kin should have been. Otherwise, every smartphone out there does Facebook perfectly well so there is no need for it in the market.

heavymetal:Reading this makes me further believe that if Facebook tries to enter the market with its own smartphone it will more than likely fail. What would they have which could compete with a rumored Amazon smartphone, much less the existing Android, Windows phone, and iPhones on the market?

The whole Facebook phone rumors puzzle me precisely because of this. There are only two features I can see them implementing, and both would be a train wreck.

1. Facebook phone - the AOL of the smartphone world. No browser, just Facebook and Facebook apps.

heavymetal:Reading this makes me further believe that if Facebook tries to enter the market with its own smartphone it will more than likely fail. What would they have which could compete with a rumored Amazon smartphone, much less the existing Android, Windows phone, and iPhones on the market?

The whole Facebook phone rumors puzzle me precisely because of this. There are only two features I can see them implementing, and both would be a train wreck.

1. Facebook phone - the AOL of the smartphone world. No browser, just Facebook and Facebook apps.

2. Facebook phone - Uber cheap smartphone without contract (less than $100) that takes Android's tracking features for advertising and cranks it up to 11. Think full location and web history available to advertisers and linked directly to your FB profile, rather than simply summarized and linked to a unique Google profile of you.

There is already a "facebook"/social networking android phone. I cannot recall the name of it off the top of y head but it is a cheap, low spec phone that has a dedicated facebook button and social networking integration on steroids it is marketed to tweens.

yep, it is a fail. Tweens need social status that only crapple can provide

Piizzadude:There is already a "facebook"/social networking android phone. I cannot recall the name of it off the top of y head but it is a cheap, low spec phone that has a dedicated facebook button and social networking integration on steroids it is marketed to tweens.

yep, it is a fail. Tweens need social status that only crapple can provide

The HTC Status (ChaCha) and the HTC Salsa, came out last summer as an Android phone with a physical Facebook button bolted onto the plastic keyboard. Within a month rumors were abound that AT&T was going to pull the plug on it due to slow sales. It's still available for AT&T now but it's free.

With so many affordable Android devices out there, I don't see the need for a locked down Amazon version. The Kindle Fire definitely filled a price point that was missing in the tablet arena, but a phone version is not necessary.

Mad_Radhu:Even 4.0 is pretty smooth on my Galaxy Nexus. Android has always been pretty responsive so long as it was without HTC or Samsung skins screwing up the UI.

Android could honestly be dog-slow even without manufacturer skinning problems. It's a sad truth, but it's the truth and denying it doesn't help anyone. Yes, iPhone fans, Android can be crap sometimes. The UI was terrible prior to 4.0, and responsiveness was terrible-to-decent until 4.1.

As of 4.1 (Jelly Bean) however, Android is -nice-. Leaked versions of it have made it out for the Galaxy Nexus on all the various carriers, and it is really, really slick. No more UI lagging, no more crappy responsiveness. It's all smooth now.

TellarHK:Mad_Radhu:Even 4.0 is pretty smooth on my Galaxy Nexus. Android has always been pretty responsive so long as it was without HTC or Samsung skins screwing up the UI.

Android could honestly be dog-slow even without manufacturer skinning problems. It's a sad truth, but it's the truth and denying it doesn't help anyone. Yes, iPhone fans, Android can be crap sometimes. The UI was terrible prior to 4.0, and responsiveness was terrible-to-decent until 4.1.

As of 4.1 (Jelly Bean) however, Android is -nice-. Leaked versions of it have made it out for the Galaxy Nexus on all the various carriers, and it is really, really slick. No more UI lagging, no more crappy responsiveness. It's all smooth now.

I think they define "lag" as "The screen goes black for a fraction of a second while the app loads", a feature the iPhone doesn't have because it loads screenshots from the last use while loading the app. I haven't noticed any significant lag on my galaxy S, which might be because I don't have 200 pieces of crap running in the background and empty my ram every once in a while.

TellarHK:Mad_Radhu:Even 4.0 is pretty smooth on my Galaxy Nexus. Android has always been pretty responsive so long as it was without HTC or Samsung skins screwing up the UI.

Android could honestly be dog-slow even without manufacturer skinning problems. It's a sad truth, but it's the truth and denying it doesn't help anyone. Yes, iPhone fans, Android can be crap sometimes. The UI was terrible prior to 4.0, and responsiveness was terrible-to-decent until 4.1.

As of 4.1 (Jelly Bean) however, Android is -nice-. Leaked versions of it have made it out for the Galaxy Nexus on all the various carriers, and it is really, really slick. No more UI lagging, no more crappy responsiveness. It's all smooth now.

Terrible to decent responsiveness on 4.0? I'll see the screen stutter during a transition maybe once a day on my Gnex. I'm glad they put more effort into smoothness in 4.1 but it's barely an issue in 4.0.

DerAppie:a feature the iPhone doesn't have because it loads screenshots from the last use while loading the app

While I agree such tricks don't make programs actually load any faster, anything that makes the UI feel faster without actually slowing things down (much) is probably a win, even if it's just a bit of perception hijacking.

profplump:DerAppie: a feature the iPhone doesn't have because it loads screenshots from the last use while loading the app

While I agree such tricks don't make programs actually load any faster, anything that makes the UI feel faster without actually slowing things down (much) is probably a win, even if it's just a bit of perception hijacking.

One of my Android friends once told me that the coverflow feature in iOS was a "cheating hack" because it didn't draw the actual album covers in the squares until you slowed down your scrolling. I told him this was a UI feature to make scrolling go faster. He insisted it was a "cheat". I then asked him to pick up a phone book and that by flipping through the yellow pages did he read every single listing from A to P before he got to Plumbers. Conversation ended there.

DerAppie:SacriliciousBeerSwiller: I haven't experienced any lag with ICS...

I think they define "lag" as "The screen goes black for a fraction of a second while the app loads", a feature the iPhone doesn't have because it loads screenshots from the last use while loading the app. I haven't noticed any significant lag on my galaxy S, which might be because I don't have 200 pieces of crap running in the background and empty my ram every once in a while.

Honestly, even the GNx and G3 have GUIlag, which generally implies a greater than 0.1s response time for a majority of interaction. Not everyone notices this, just like not everyone notices the difference between filet mignon and chicken. Jellybean masks GUIlag by pre-rendering everything(triple buffer & double frame rate needed), to sacrifice battery life for the sake of a pleasant GUI. And that's fine if you're willing and able to carry around multiple spare batteries to keep your phone running for a day.

digistil:DerAppie: SacriliciousBeerSwiller: I haven't experienced any lag with ICS...

I think they define "lag" as "The screen goes black for a fraction of a second while the app loads", a feature the iPhone doesn't have because it loads screenshots from the last use while loading the app. I haven't noticed any significant lag on my galaxy S, which might be because I don't have 200 pieces of crap running in the background and empty my ram every once in a while.

Honestly, even the GNx and G3 have GUIlag, which generally implies a greater than 0.1s response time for a majority of interaction. Not everyone notices this, just like not everyone notices the difference between filet mignon and chicken. Jellybean masks GUIlag by pre-rendering everything(triple buffer & double frame rate needed), to sacrifice battery life for the sake of a pleasant GUI. And that's fine if you're willing and able to carry around multiple spare batteries to keep your phone running for a day.

Citation? I read several Android blogs and nobody has mentioned that the battery life on the Gnex took a hit with JB.

What the fark are you guys talking about, lag? I've never had lag. I had the original htc evo 4g and now i have the evo 4g lte. I think you guys just need to buy better phones. I love always having better phones than iPhone!

profplump:DerAppie: a feature the iPhone doesn't have because it loads screenshots from the last use while loading the app

While I agree such tricks don't make programs actually load any faster, anything that makes the UI feel faster without actually slowing things down (much) is probably a win, even if it's just a bit of perception hijacking.

It is a smart trick, I agree. In the end it's perception that counts and obviously some people are annoyed by anything other than the instantaneous appearance of the app.

theurge14:One of my Android friends once told me that the coverflow feature in iOS was a "cheating hack" because it didn't draw the actual album covers in the squares until you slowed down your scrolling. I told him this was a UI feature to make scrolling go faster. He insisted it was a "cheat". I then asked him to pick up a phone book and that by flipping through the yellow pages did he read every single listing from A to P before he got to Plumbers. Conversation ended there.

Okay, he's just stupid.

digistil:which generally implies a greater than 0.1s response time for a majority of interaction

0.1 second? People are bothered by 0.1 second of waiting for an app to load? Who exactly are these people who whine about not getting instant responses on mobile devices? They need to be cleared from the gene pool for the good of the species.